The is a group of Japanese dialects

Japanese dialects

The comprise many regional variants. The lingua franca of Japan is called hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo , and while it was based initially on the Tokyo dialect, the language of Japan's capital has since gone in its own direction to become one of Japan's many dialects...

 in the Kansai region of Japan. In technical term,
it is called ; Kansai is also known as "Kinki", hence the alternative term. They are typified by the speech of Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, the major city of Kansai, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben. It is characterized as being both more melodic and harsher by speakers of the standard language.

Background

Since Osaka is the largest city in the region and its speakers gained the most media exposure over the last century, non-Kansai-ben speakers tend to associate the dialect of Osaka with the entire Kansai region. However, technically, Kansai-ben is not a single dialect but a group of related dialects in the region. Each major city and prefecture has a particular dialect, and residents take some pride in their particular dialectical variations.

The common Kansai-ben is spoken in Keihanshin and its surroundings, a radius of about 50 km around the Osaka-Kyoto area. Dialects of other areas such as Kii Peninsula

Kii Peninsula

The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan. The area south of the “Central Tectonic Line” is called Nankii , and includes the most poleward living coral reefs in the world due to the presence of the warm Kuroshio Current, though these are threatened by global warming and human...

 and northern Kansai have different features, some archaic, from the common Kansai-ben. Tajima

Tajima Province

was an old province of Japan in the area that is today northern Hyōgo Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Tajima bordered on Harima, Inaba, Tamba, and Tango provinces....

 and Tango

Tango Province

was an old province in the area that is today northern Kyoto Prefecture facing the Sea of Japan. It was sometimes called , with Tamba Province. Tango bordered on Tajima, Tamba, and Wakasa provinces....

 (except Maizuru

Maizuru, Kyoto

is a city located in Kyōto, Japan, on an inlet of the Sea of Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 89,626 and the density of 264 persons per km². The total area is .The city was founded on May 27, 1943....

) dialects in northern Kansai are too different to be regarded as Kansai-ben and are thus usually included in Chūgoku dialect. The dialects in Shikoku

Shikoku

is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...

 and the Hokuriku region

Hokuriku region

The is located in the northwestern part of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It lies along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern Japan....

 also share many similarities with the Kansai dialects, but are classified separately.

History

Kansai-ben has over a thousand years of history. When the Kansai region centered on the ancient Imperial capital of Kyoto was the center of Japan, an archaic form of Kansai-ben was the de facto standard Japanese. Classical Japanese literature

Japanese literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...

 was written in archaic Kansai-ben and Kansai-ben had a gradual influence on all of the nation including Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 (now Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

). When political and military center of Japan was moved to Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 under the Tokugawa Shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 and the Kantō region

Kanto region

The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....

 grew in prominence, Edo-ben took the place of Kansai-ben. With Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

 and the transfer of the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo, Kansai-ben was fixed the position as a non-standard local dialect.

As the Tokyo-ben was adopted with the advent of a national education standard in Japan, some features and intraregional differences of Kansai-ben have diminished and changed. However, Kansai is the second most populated urban region in Japan after Kantō, with a population of about 20 million, so Kansai-ben is still the most widely known and influential non-standard Japanese dialect and a prestige dialect in western Japan. Many Kansai people are attached to their own speech and have strong regional rivalry against Tokyo.

Since the Taishō period

Taisho period

The , or Taishō era, is a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30, 1912 to December 25, 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Taishō Emperor. The health of the new emperor was weak, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen to the Diet...

, the manzai

Manzai

is a traditional style of stand-up comedy in Japanese culture, which usually involves two performers —a straight man and a funny man —trading jokes at great speed...

 form of Japanese comedy has been developed in Osaka, and a large number of Osakan comedians have appeared in Japanese media with their own dialect (See also Yoshimoto Kogyo

Yoshimoto Kogyo

is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate, with its headquarters based in Osaka. It was founded in 1912 as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai talent, producing and promoting the shows they...

). Because of such associations, Kansai speakers are often viewed as being more amusing or wittier than average other dialects' speakers. Tokyo people even occasionally imitate Kansai-ben to provoke laughter or inject humor such as Nande ya nen! ("You gotta be kidding!" or "Why/What the hell?!", a stereotype Tsukkomi phrase in Manzai).

Because Kansai-ben is widely known especially in comedy, it has become a favorite with Japanese authors, manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 and anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 artists, as a choice for representing a character somewhat "different" from norm. The speakers of Kansai-ben are often associated with the stereotypical Osakan image: humorous, miser, epicurean, gaudy, vulgar, energetic and yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

. See also :Category:Fictional Kansai characters and this link.

Phonology

In phonological terms, Kansai-ben is characterized by strong vowels and contrasted with Tokyo-ben, characterized by its strong consonants, but the basis of the phonemes is similar.

Vowels

Kansai-ben has five vowels /a, i, u, e, o/ as does standard Japanese. However, /u/ is nearer to u than it is in Tokyo.

Standard Japanese frequent occurs vowel reduction

Vowel reduction

In phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...

, but it is rare in Kansai-ben. For example, polite copula desu is pronounced nearly des in standard Japanese, but Kansai speakers pronounce distinct desu or even desuu. In some dialects such as the Tokyo one, /ai, ae, oi/ and /ui/ often fuse into /ee/ and ii like akee, sugee and samii instead of akai ("red"), sugoi ("great") and samui ("cold"), but these transformations are also rare in Kansai-ben. Kansai-ben shows a recurring tendency to lengthen vowels at the end of monomoraic

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

 nouns. Common examples are kii for ki ("tree"), too for to ("door") and mee for me ("eye").

Oddly, long vowels in inflections of standard are sometimes shortened in Kansai-ben. This is particularly noticeable in the volitional conjugation of verbs. For instance, gakkō e ikō ka meaning "shall we go to school?" is shorter in Kansai-ben as gakko iko ka. The common phrase of agreement, sō da meaning "that's it", is said so ya or even se ya in Kansai.

Consonants

Unlike the strong vowels, the fricative

Fricative consonant

Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...

 and plosive

Stop consonant

In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...

 consonants are somewhat weak. The phoneme

Phoneme

In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....

 /hi/ in Kansai-ben is nearer to [hi] than [çi] in standard. Yotsugana

Yotsugana

refers to the four kanaジ, ヂ, ズ, ヅ of the Japanese language. Traditionally four distinct phonemes, currently they are either one, two, three, or four distinct phonemes depending on dialect...

 is two phonemes as Tokyo, but Kansai speakers tend to pronounce /zi/ and /zu/ as [ʑi] and [zu] in place of [dʑi] and [dzɯ] in standard. Intervocalic /ɡ/ is pronounced ŋ as in Tokyo, but nasal consonant

Nasal consonant

A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...

 is also weak and almost all Kansai speakers are oblivious of the difference between ɡ and ŋ. In a provocative speech, r is sometimes used.

A frequent occurrence in Kansai-ben is the use of /h/ in place of /s/ in suffixes and inflections. Some palatalization of /s/ is apparent in most Kansai speakers, but it seems to have progressed more in morphological suffixes than in core vocabulary. This process has produced -han for -san "Mr., Ms.", -mahen for -masen (formal negative form), and -mahyo for -mashō (formal volitional form), among other examples.

In Kansai, especially in the rural areas, /z, d, r/ are sometime confused. For example, denden for zenzen "never, not at all", kadara or karara for karada "body". There is a joke describing these confusions: Yorogawa no miru nonre hara rarakurari ya for Yodogawa no mizu nonde hara dadakudari ya "I drank water of Yodo River and have the trots". The /r/ + vowel in the verb conjugations is sometimes changes /N/ as well as colloquial Tokyo speech. For example, nani shiteru nen "What are you doing?" often changes nani shiten nen in fluent Kansai speech.

Pitch accent

The pitch accent

Pitch accent

Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word. The placement of this tone or the way it is realized can give different meanings to otherwise similar words...

 in Kansai-ben is very different from the standard Tokyo accent, so non-Kansai Japanese can recognize Kansai people easily from that alone. Kansai-ben's accent is called the Kyoto-Osaka type accent (京阪式アクセント, Keihan-shiki akusento) and is spoken in most of Kansai (except Tajima, Tango, southern Nara, northwestern Banshu, northern Tamba, northeastern Shiga and parts of Kii Peninsula), Shikoku

Shikoku

is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...

, southern Fukui Prefecture

Fukui Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Fukui.- Prehistory :The Kitadani Dinosaur Quarry, on the Sugiyama River within the city limits of Katsuyama, has yielded the Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis and Fukuisaurus tetoriensis as well as an unnamed...

 and Ibigawa, Gifu

Ibigawa, Gifu

is a town located in Ibi District, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.On January 31, 2005 the former villages of Fujihashi, Kasuga, Kuze, Sakauchi, and Tanigumi merged with Ibigawa, resulting in a nearly 20-fold increase in area....

. The Tokyo accent distinguishes words only by downstep

Downstep (phonetics)

In phonetics, downstep is a phonemic or phonetic downward shift of tone between the syllables or words of a tonal language. It is best known in the tonal languages of West Africa, but the pitch accent of Japanese is quite similar to downstep in Africa. Downstep contrasts with the much rarer upstep...

, but the Kansai accent distinguishes words also by high/low-initial accents, so Kansai-ben has more pitch patterns than standard Japanese. In the Tokyo accent, the first and second mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

e are usually different, but in the Kansai accent, they are often the same.

Below is a list of simplified Kansai accent patterns. H represents a high pitch and L represents a low pitch.

1. • The first mora is high pitch and the others are low: H-L, H-L-L, H-L-L-L, etc.
   • The high pitch continues for the set mora and the rest are low: H-H-L, H-H-L-L, H-H-H-L, etc.
   • All moras are high pitch: H-H, H-H-H, H-H-H-H, etc.
2. • The high pitch appears on the middle mora and the rest are low again: L-H-L, L-H-L-L, L-L-H-L, etc.
   • The low pitch continues until just before the last: L-L-H, L-L-L-H, L-L-L-L-H, etc.
     • If particles attach to the end of the word, all moras are low: L-L-L(-H), L-L-L-L(-H), L-L-L-L-L(-H)
   • With two-mora words, there are two special accent patterns. Both of these tend to be realized in recent years as L-H, L-H(-L).
     • The second mora rises and falls quickly. If particles attach to the end of the word, the fall is sometimes not realized: L-HL, L-HL(-L) or L-H(-L)
     • The second mora does not fall. If particles attach to the end of the word, both moras are low: L-H, L-L(-H)

The Kansai accent includes some local variations. The traditional pre-modern Kansai accent is kept in Shikoku and parts of Wakayama such as Tanabe city

Tanabe, Wakayama

is the second biggest city in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.As of 2008 , the city has an estimated population of 80,398 and a density of 78.3 persons per km². The total area is 1026.77 km². The city was founded on May 20, 1942.Tanabe is on the coast and surrounded by mountains...

. Even between Kyoto and Osaka, only 30 min by train, a few words' pitch accents change. For example, Tōkyō ikimashita ([I] went to Tokyo) is pronounced H-H-H-H H-H-H-L-L in Osaka, L-L-L-L H-H-L-L-L in Kyoto.

		Kansai	Tokyo	English
hashi	橋	H-L	L-H(-L)	bridge
	箸	L-H	H-L	chopsticks
	端	H-H	L-H(-H)	edge
nihon	日本	H-L-L	L-H-L	Japan
	二本	L-L-H	H-L-L	2 hon Japanese counter word In Japanese, counter words or counters are used along with numbers to count things, actions, and events.In Japanese, as in Chinese and Korean, numerals cannot quantify nouns by themselves...
kon'nichiwa	こんにちは	L-H-L-L-H L-L-L-L-H	L-H-H-H-H	Good afternoon
Arigatō	ありがとう	L-L-L-H-L	L-H-L-L-L	Thanks

Grammar

Many words and grammar structures in Kansai-ben are contractions of their classical Japanese equivalents (it is unusual to contract words in such a way in standard Japanese). For example, chigau (to be different or wrong) becomes chau, yoku (well) becomes yō, and omoshiroi (interesting or funny) becomes omoroi. These contractions follow similar inflection rules as their standard forms so chau is politely said chaimasu in the same way as chigau is inflected to chigaimasu. Common contractions in Tokyo-ben are replaced by specific Kansai-ben variations. The korya and sorya contractions of kore wa and sore wa, heard in relaxed speech in Tokyo, are instead kora and sora in Kansai-ben.

Verbs

Kansai-ben also has two types of regular verb

Japanese consonant and vowel verbs

Japanese has two types of regular verb,#consonant-stem, , Group I, or u verbs, and#vowel-stem, , Group II, or ru verbs.All vowel-stem verbs end in either -eru or -iru...

, godan verbs and ichidan verbs, and two irregular verbs, kuru ("to come") and suru ("to do"), but some conjugations are different from standard Japanese.

The geminated consonants found in godan verbs of standard Japanese verbal inflections are usually replaced with long vowels (often shortened in 3 morae verbs) in Kansai-ben (See also Late Middle Japanese#Onbin). Thus, for the verb iu/yū ("to say"), the past tense in standard Japanese itta or yutta ("said") becomes yūta in Kansai-ben. This particular verb is a dead giveaway of a native Kansai speaker, as most will unconsciously say yūte instead of itte or yutte even if well-practiced at speaking in standard Japanese. Other examples of geminate replacement are waratta ("laughed") becoming warōta or warota and moratta ("received") becoming morōta, morota or even mōta.

The suffix -te shimau (to finish something or to do something in unintentional or unfortunate circumstances) is contracted to -chimau or -chau in colloquial Tokyo speech but to -temau in Kansai speech. Thus, shichimau, or shichau, becomes shitemau. Furthermore, as the verb shimau is affected by the same sound changes as in other verbs ending in -u, the past tense of this form is rendered as -temōta or -temota rather than -chimatta or -chatta: wasurechimatta, or wasurechatta ("I forgot [it]"), in Tokyo is wasuretemōta or wasuretemota in Kansai.

The long vowel of the volitional form is often shortened; for example, tsukaō (the volitional form of tsukau) becomes tsukao, tabeyō (the volitional form of taberu) becomes tabeyo. The irregular verb suru has special volitinal form shō instead of shiyō, and the volitinal form of another irregular verb kuru is sometimes replaced with kō.

The causative verb ending -(sa)seru is usually replaced with -(sa)su in Kansai-ben; for example, saseru (causative form of suru) changes sasu, iwaseru (causative form of iu) changes iwasu. Te form -(sa)sete and perfective form -(sa)seta often change to -(sa)shite and -(sa)shita. Transformations of -(sa)shite and -(sa)shita also appear in transitive ichidan verbs such as miseru ("to show"), e.g. misete for mishite.

Kansai-ben also uses the potential verb endings -eru for godan and -(ra)reru for ichidan, and their negative forms are -en/ehen and -(ra)ren/(ra)rehen instead of standard -enai and -(ra)renai. However, mainly in Osaka, there is a strong tendency towards treating all potential forms of verbs the same -(r)arehen, whether ichidan or godan. This is because -ehen overlaps with Osakan negative conjugation.

In standard Japanese, The verb iru is used for reference to the existence of an animate

Animacy

Animacy is a grammatical and/or semantic category of nouns based on how sentient or alive the referent of the noun in a given taxonomic scheme is...

 object, and iru is replaced with oru in humble language and some written language. In western Japanese, oru is used not only in humble language but also in all other situations instead of iru. Kansai dialect belongs to western Japanese, but iru and its variation, iteru, are used in Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, and so on. People in these areas consider oru a somewhat lower or masculine word and sometimes avoid using it for elders (exception: respectful expression orareru, oru + respectful auxiliary verb -(r)areru and humble expression orimasu, oru + -masu). In parts of Wakayama, iru is replaced with aru, which is used for inanimate objects in most other dialects.

Negative

In casual speech, the negative verb ending, which is -nai in standard Japanese, is expressed with -n and -hen, as in ikan and ikahen "not going", which is ikanai in standard Japanese. -N is a transformation of the classical Japanese negative form -nu and is also used for formal speech and idioms in standard Japanese. -Hen is the result of contraction and phonological change of ren'yōkei + wa senu, the emphasis form of -nu. The godan verbs conjugation before -hen has two varieties: the more common conjugation is -ahen like ikahen, but -ehen like ikehen is also used in Osaka. When the vowel before -hen is i, -hen sometimes changes to -hin, especially in Kyoto. The past nagative form is -nkatta and -henkatta, a mixture of -n/hen and the standard past negative form -nakatta. In traditional Kansai-ben, -nanda and -henanda is used in the past negative form.

• godan verbs: tsukau ("to use") becomes tsukawan and tsukai wa senu > tsukaiyahen > tsukawahen, tsukaehen
• kami-ichidan verbs: okiru ("to wake up") becomes okin and oki wa senu > okiyahen > okihen, okihin
  • one mora verbs: miru ("to see") becomes min and mi wa senu > miyahen > meehen, miihin
• shimo-ichidan verbs: taberu ("to eat") becomes taben and tabe wa senu > tabeyahen > tabehen
  • one mora verbs: neru ("to sleep") becomes nen and ne wa senu > neyahen > neehen
• s-irregular verb: suru becomes sen and shi wa senu > shiyahen > seehen, shiihin
• k-irregular verb: kuru becomes kon and ki wa senu > kiyahen > keehen, kiihin
  • Kōhen, a mixture keehen with standard konai, is also used lately by young people, especially in Kobe.

Generally speaking, -hen is used in almost negative sentences and -n is used in strong negative sentences and idiomatic expressions. For example, -n toite or -n totte (do not, standard -nai de), -n demo (even not, standard -nakutemo), -n to (1. unless, standard -nai to or -nakute wa; 2. without, standard -nai de or -zu ni) etc. -N to akan and -na akan (na is a transformation of neba) are often used as "must." -N to akan/na akan may be replaced by -nto ikan/na ikan and -na naran (-na naran is often shortened to -n naran).

Imperative

Kansai-ben has two imperative forms. One is the normal imperative form, inherited from Late Middle Japanese. The -ro form for ichidan verbs in standard Japanese is much rarer and replaced by -i or -e in Kansai. The normal imperative form is often followed by yo or ya. The other is a somewhat soft form which uses ren'yōkei, an abbreviation of ren'yōkei and nasai. Coincidentally, ren'yōkei + na, the informal imperative mood in Kantō has the same origin. The end of the soft imperative form is often elongated and is generally followed by ya or na. In Kyoto, women often add -yoshi to the soft imperative form.

• godan verbs: tsukau becomes tsukae in the normal form, tsukai or tsukaii in the soft one.
• kami-ichidan verbs: okiru becomes okii (L-H-L) in the normal form, oki or okii (L-L-H) in the soft one.
• shimo-ichidan verbs: taberu becomes tabee (L-H-L) in the normal form, tabe or tabee (L-L-H) in the soft one.
• s-irregular verb: suru becomes see in the normal form, shi or shii in the soft one.
• k-irregular verb: kuru becomes koi in the normal form, ki or kii in the soft one.

In the negative imperative mood, Kansai-ben also has the somewhat soft form which uses the ren'yōkei + na, an abbreviation of the ren'yōkei + nasaruna. Na sometimes changes to naya or naina. This soft negative imperative form is the same as the soft imperative and na, Kansai speakers can recognize the difference by accent, but Tokyo speakers are sometimes confused by a command not to do something, which they interpret as an order to do it. Accent on the soft imperative form is flat, and the accent on the soft negative imperative form has a downstep before na.

• godan verbs: tsukau becomes tsukauna in the normal form, tsukaina in the soft one.
• kami-ichidan verbs: okiru becomes okiruna in the normal form, okina in the soft one.
• shimo-ichidan verbs: taberu becomes taberuna in the normal form, tabena in the soft one.
• s-irregular verb: suru becomes suruna or suna in the normal form, shina in the soft one.
• k-irregular verb: kuru becomes kuruna in the normal form, kina in the soft one.

Adjectives

The stem of adjective forms in Kansai-ben is generally the same as in standard Japanese, except for regional vocabulary differences. The same process that reduced the Classical Japanese terminal and attributive endings (-shi and -ki, respectively) to -i has reduced also the (-masu stem) ending -ku to -u, yielding such forms as hayō (contraction of hayau) for hayaku ("quickly"). Dropping the consonant from the final mora in all forms of adjective endings has been a frequent occurrence in Japanese over the centuries (and is the origin of such forms as arigatō and omedetō), but the Kantō speech preserved -ku while reducing -shi and -ki to -i, thus accounting for the discrepancy in the standard language.

The -i ending can be dropped and the last vowel of the adjective's stem can be stretched out for a second mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

, sometimes with a tonal change for emphasis. By this process, omoshiroi "interesting, funny" becomes omoshirō and atsui "hot" becomes atsū or attsū. This use of the adjective's stem, often as an exclamation, is seen in classical literature and many dialects of modern Japanese, but is more often used in Kansai dialect.

There is not a special conjugated form for presumptive of adjectives in Kansai-ben, it is just addition of yaro to the plain form. For example, yasukarō (the presumptive form of yasui "cheap") is hardly used and is usually replaced with the plain form + yaro likes yasui yaro. Polite suffixs desu/dasu/dosu and -masu are also added yaro for presumptive form instead of deshō in standard Japanese. For example, kyō wa hare deshō ("It may be fine weather today") is replaced with kyō wa hare desu yaro.

Copulae

The standard Japanese copula da is replaced by the Kansai-ben copula ya. The inflected forms maintain this difference, giving yaro for darō (volitional), yatta for datta (past). The negative copula de wa nai or ja nai is replaced by ya nai or ya arahen/arehen in Kansai-ben. Ya originated from ja (a variation of dearu as da) in the late of Edo period and ja is still used slightly in acrid speech. Now ja is commonly used in other western Japanese areas like Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

 and is also used for the stereotype of old men in fiction.

It should be noted that ya and ja are used only informally, the same as the standard da, while the standard desu is by and large used for the polite (keigo) copula. Kansai-ben has its own keigo copulas: dosu in Kyoto and dasu in Osaka, but both are now archaic because the standard desu has become dominant. Dasu is sometimes shortened to da, not to be confused with the standard non-keigo copula.

In traditional Kansai-ben, there is another polite style de omasu between the polite style dasu/dosu and the polite formal style de gozaimasu. Omasu means the polite form of the verb aru and also be used for polite form of adjectives like gozaimasu. In Kyoto, omasu is often replaced with osu. In Osaka, omasu is sometimes shortended to oma like dasu to da. Omasu and osu have their negative forms omahen and ohen.

The politeness levels of copula

	impolite	informal	polite1	polite2		polite formal
Osaka	ja	ya	dasu	de omasu	de oma	de gozaimasu
Kyoto			dosu		de osu

Aspect

Common Kansai-ben as Osaka-ben and Kyoto-ben uses the same grammar form -te iru of a verb, usually contracted to -teru, to form the continuous and progressive aspects

Continuous and progressive aspects

The continuous and progressive aspects are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects. It is a verb category with two principal meaning components: duration and incompletion...

, same as that of standard Japanese. -Te iru is replaced with -te oru, usually contracted to -toru/tōru, in somewhat informal and arrogant speech, same as the usage of iru/oru. And -te iru is replaced with -te aru, often contracted to -taru/tāru, in the expression to the condition of inanimate objects. -Te aru is only used with transitive verb

Transitive verb

In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...

s in standard Japanese, but also used with intransitive verb

Intransitive verb

In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....

s in Kansai-ben. One should note that -te yaru "to do for someone" is also contracted to -taru (-charu in Senshu and Wakayama), do not confuse.

Other Western Japanese as Chūgoku and Shikoku dialects has the discrimination of grammatical aspect

Grammatical aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...

, -oru in progressive

Continuous and progressive aspects

The continuous and progressive aspects are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects. It is a verb category with two principal meaning components: duration and incompletion...

 and -te oru in perfect. -Oru and -te oru have some regional variations. In Kansai region, some dialects of southern Hyogo and Kii Peninsula have these discrimination, too. In parts of Wakayama, -oru and -te oru are replaced with -aru and -te aru, often contracted to -yaru and -tāru/chāru.

Politeness

Historically, extensive use of keigo (honorific speech) was a feature of Kansai-ben, especially Kyoto-ben, while Kantō-ben, from which standard Japanese developed, formerly lacked it. Keigo in standard Japanese was originally borrowed from Kansai-ben. However, keigo is no longer considered a feature of the dialect since Standard Japanese now also has it. Even today, keigo is used more often in Kansai-ben than in the other dialects except for the standard Japanese, to which people switch in formal situations.

In Kansai-ben, -naharu, a transformation of -nasaru, is used for the respectful language. In more honorific speech, o- yasu, a transformation of o- asobasu, is also used especially in Kyoto. For polite invitation or order, -nahare/nahai and o- yasu are used instead of -nasai and o- asobase in standard Japanese; -tokun nahare (also -toku nahare) and -tokure yasu (also -tokuryasu) are used instead of -te kudasai in standard Japanese. Oide yasu and okoshi yasu (more respectful), meaning "welcome", are the common phrases of sightseeing areas in Kyoto.

Now -naharu and o- yasu have gone out of use, and -haru (sometimes -yaharu), a transformation of -naharu, is often used for showing reasonable respect without formality especially in Kyoto. The conjugation before -haru has two varieties between Kyoto and Osaka. In Southern Hyogo, including Kobe, -te ya is used instead of -haru. In formal speech, -naharu and -haru/yaharu connect with -masu form and -te ya changes -te desu.

The honorific form of Kansai-ben

	use	see	eat	do	come	-te form
original	tsukau	miru	taberu	suru	kuru	-teru
-naharu	tsukainaharu	minaharu	tabenaharu	shinaharu	kinaharu	-tenaharu
-haru in Kyoto	tsukawaharu	miharu	tabeharu	shiharu	kiharu	-taharu
-haru in Osaka	tsukaiharu					-teharu
-yaharu		miyaharu		shiyaharu	kiyaharu	-teyaharu
-te ya	tsukōte ya	mite ya	tabete ya	shite ya	kite ya	-totte ya

Particles

There is some difference in the particles between Kansai-ben and standard Japanese. In colloquial Kansai-ben, are often left out especially the accusative case

Accusative case

The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...

 o and the quotation particles to and tte. The ellipsis of to and tte happens only before two verbs: iu/yū (say) and omou (think). For example, Tanaka-san, ashita kuru tte yūteta ("Mr. Tanaka said that he will come tomorrow") can change to Tanaka-san, ashita kuru yūteta, but Tanaka-san, ashita kuru tte kinō yūteta ("Mr. Tanaka said yesterday that he will come tomorrow") never changes to Tanaka-san, ashita kuru kinō yūteta. And to iu is sometimes contracted to chū or tchū instead of tsū or ttsū in Tokyo.

The na or nā is used very often in Kansai-ben instead of ne or nē in standard Japanese. In standard Japanese, na/nā is less formal and masculine style, but in Kansai-ben na/nā is used by both men and women in many familiar situations. It is not only used as interjectory particle (as emphasis for the imperative form, expression a admiration, and address to listeners, for example), and the meaning varies depending on context and voice intonation, so much so that nā is called the world's third most difficult word to translate. Besides na/nā and ne/nē, no or nō is also used as masculine or harsh particle in Kansai.

Kara and node, the meaning "because," are replaced by sakai or yotte. Ni is sometimes added to the end of both, and sakai changes to sake in some areas. Sakai was so famous as the characteristic particle of Kansai-ben that a special saying was made out of it: ". However, in recent years, the standard kara and node have become dominant.

It is also characteristic of Kansai-ben to use a particle kate. Kate has two usages. When kate is used with conjugative words, mainly in the past form and the negative form, it is the equivalent of the English "even if" or "even though", such as Kaze hiita kate, watashi wa ryokō e iku ("Even if [I] catch a cold, I will go on the trip"). When kate is used with nouns, it means something like "even", "too," or "either", such as Ore kate shiran ("I don't know, either"), and is similar to the particle mo.

Sentence final particles

The used in Kansai-ben differ widely from those used in standard Japanese. The most prominent to Tokyo-ben speakers is the use of wa by men. In standard Japanese, this is a particle with the same meaning as yo, but is used exclusively by women and so is said to sound softer. In Kansai-ben, however, it functions in almost exactly the same manner as yo does in standard Japanese and is used equally by both men and women in many different levels of conversation.

Another difference in sentence final particles that strikes the ear of the Tokyo speaker is the nen particle. It comes from no ya (particle no + copula ya, also n ya) and much the same as the standard Japanese no da (also n da). Nen has some variation, such as neya (rather archaic), ne (shortened version), and nya (softer version of neya). When copula connects these particles, da + no da changes na no da (na n da) and ya + no ya changes na no ya (na n ya), but ya + nen does not change na nen. No da is never used with polite form, but no ya and nen can be used with polite form in Kansai-ben such as nani shitemasu nen? "What are you doing?". In past tense, nen changes to -ten; for example, "I love you" would be suki ya nen or sukkya nen, and "I loved you" would be suki yatten. However, its use in plain form verbs is restricted to declarative sentences and emphatic questions; for the progressive form of the verb suru, the simple question form would be Nani shiteru n? (emphatic form: Nani shiten nen?!), with declarative form ～shiten nen.

The emphatic particle ze, heard often from Tokyo men, is rarely heard in Kansai. Instead, the particle de is used, arising from the replacement of z with d in words. However, despite the similarity with ze, the Kansai de does not carry nearly as heavy or rude a connotation, as it is influenced by the lesser stress on formality and distance in Kansai. The particle zo is also replaced to do by some Kansai speakers. Unlike the replacement of ze with de, the replacement of zo with do carries a masculine or rude impression.

The emphasis or question particle jan ka in the casual speech of Kanto changes to yan ka in Kansai. Yan ka has a masculine variation yan ke (in areas like Kawachi

Kawachi Province

was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province...

, but yan ke is also used by women) and a shortened variation yan, just like jan in Kanto. Jan ka and jan are used only in informal speech, but yan ka and yan can be used with formal forms like sugoi desu yan! ("It is great!"). Youngsters sometimes use yan nā, the combination of yan and nā, as tag question

Tag question

A question tag or tag question is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement or an imperative is turned into a question by adding an interrogative fragment . For example, in the sentence "You're John, aren't you?", the statement "You're John" is turned into a question by the tag...

.

Vocabulary

In some cases, Kansai-ben uses entirely different words. The verb hokasu corresponds to standard Japanese suteru "to throw away", and metcha corresponds to the standard Japanese slang chō "very". Chō, in Kansai-ben, means "a little" and is a contracted form of chotto. Thus the phrase chō matte "wait a minute" in Kansai-ben sounds very strange to a Tokyo person.

Some Japanese words gain entirely different meanings or are used in different ways when used in Kansai-ben. One such usage is of the word naosu (usually used to mean "correct" or "repair" in the standard language) in the sense of "put away" or "put back." For example, kono jitensha naoshite means "please put back this bicycle" in Kansai, but many standard speakers are bewildered since in standard Japanese it would mean "please repair this bicycle".

Another widely recognized Kansai-specific usage is of aho. Basically equivalent to the standard baka "idiot, fool", aho is both a term of reproach and a term of endearment to the Kansai speaker, somewhat like English twit or silly. Baka, which is used as "idiot" in most regions, becomes "complete moron" and a stronger insult than aho. Where a Tokyo citizen would almost certainly object to being called baka, being called aho by a Kansai person is not necessarily much of an insult. Being called baka by a Kansai speaker is however a much more severe criticism than it would be by a Tokyo speaker. Most Kansai-ben speakers cannot stand being called baka but don't mind being called aho.

Well-known Kansai-ben words

Here are some vocabularies and phrases famous as part of the Kansai dialect:

Kansai-ben	accent	Standard Japanese	English	Note	Example
akan, akimahen (polite form)	H-H-H, H-H-H-H-H	dame, ikemasen, shimatta	wrong, no good, must, oh no!	abbreviation of "rachi ga akanu"; -ta(ra) akan means "must not ..."; -na akan and -nto akan means "must ...".	Tabeta(ra) akan. = "You must not eat." : Tabena/Tabento akan = "You must eat."
aho	L-HL	baka	silly, idiot, fool	sometimes used friendly with a joke; this accompanies a stereotype that baka is considered a much more serious insult in Kansai; Ahondara (L-L-L-H-L) is strong abusive form; Ahokusai (L-L-H-L-L) and Ahorashii(L-L-H-L-L) are adjective form.	Honma aho ya nā. = "You are really silly."
beppin	H-H-H	bijin	beautiful woman	Originally written 別品, meaning a product of exceptional quality; extrapolated to apply to women of exceptional beauty, rewritten as 別嬪. Often appended with -san.	Beppin-san ya na. = "You are a pretty woman."
chau	H-H	chigau, dewa nai, janai	that isn't it, that isn't good, nope, wrong	reduplication Reduplication Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....  chau chau is often used for informal negative phrase	Are, chauchau chau? Chau chau, chauchau chau n chau? = "It is a Chow Chow Chow Chow Chow chow is a breed of dog that was developed in China, where it is referred to as Songshi Quan , which literally means "puffy-lion dog".- Appearance :... , isn't it?" "No, it isn't a Chow Chow, is it?" (a famous pun with Kansai-ben)
dabo	L-HL	baka	silly, idiot, fool	used in Kobe and Banshu; harsher than aho
dekka, makka		desu ka, masu ka	keigo copula (question)	desu, masu + ka (interrogative particle); also dakka in Osaka; somewhat archaic	Mōkarimakka? = "How is business?"
denna, manna		desu ne, masu ne	keigo copula (emphasis)	desu, masu + na; also danna in Osaka and donna in Kyoto; somewhat archaic	Bochi-bochi denna. = "So-so, y'know."
desse, masse		desu yo, masu yo	keigo copula (explain, advise)	desu, masu + e (change from yo); also dasse in Osaka and dosse in Kyoto; somewhat archaic	Ee toko oshiemasse! = "I will show you a nice place!"
dessharo, massharo		deshō, darō	keigo copula (surmise, make sure)	desu, masu + yaro; also dassharo in Osaka and dossharo in Kyoto; somewhat archaic	Kyō wa haremassharo. = "It may be fine weather today."
donai	H-H-H	donna, dō	how (demonstrative Demonstrative In linguistics, demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others... )	konai means konna (such, like this); sonai means sonna (such, like it); anai means anna (such, like that)	Donai ya nen! = "How does it!?"
do			excessively (prefix Prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:... )	often used with bad meanings	do-aho! = "You are a complete fool!"
dotsuku	H-H-H	naguru	to clobber somebody	do + tsuku (突く; prick, push); also dozuku	Anta, dotsuku de! = "Hey, I'll clobber you!"
donkusai	L-L-H-L-L	manuke, nibui	stupid, clumsy, inefficient, lazy	literally "stupid-smelling" (臭い)
ee	L-H	yoi, ii	good, proper, all right	used only in Plain form. other conjugations are same as yoi. (Perfective form yokatta does not become ekatta)	Kakko ee de. = "You look cool."
egetsunai	H-H-H-L-L	akudoi, iyarashii, rokotsu-na	wicked, vicious, obnoxious		Egetsunai yarikata = "Vicious way"
erai	H-L-L	erai, taihen	great, high-status, terrible	the usage as meaning "terrible" is more often in Kansai than in Tokyo; also sometimes used as meaning "tired" as shindoi in western Japanese	Erai kotcha! (< erai koto ya) = "It is a terrible/difficult thing/matter!"
gotsui	H-L-L	ikatsui, sugoi	rough, huge	gottsu means "very" or "terribly" as metcha	Gotsui kii = "Huge tree"
gyōsan, yōsan	H-L-L-L or L-L-H-L	takusan	a lot of, many	also yōke (H-L-L); in kanji	Gyōsan tabei ya. = "Eat heartily."
hannari	H-L-L-L or L-L-H-L	hanayaka, jōhin	elegant, splendid, graceful	mainly in Kyoto	Hannari shita kimono = "Elegant kimono"
hiku	H-H	shiku	spread on a flat surface (e.g. bedding, butter)	A result of the palatalization of "s" occurring elsewhere in the dialect.	Futon hiitoite ya. = "Lay out the futons, will you?"
hokasu	H-H-H	suteru	to throw away, to dump	also horu (H-H). Note particularly that the phrase "gomi (o) hottoite" means "throw out the garbage" in Kansai-ben, but "let the garbage be" in standard Japanese.	Sore hokashitoite. = "Dump it."
honde	H-H-H	sorede	and so, so that (conjunction Grammatical conjunction In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each... )		Honde na, kinō na, watashi na... = "And, in yesterday, I..."
honnara, hona (conjunction)	H-L-L-L, H-L	(sore)dewa, (sore)ja, (sore)nara	then, in that case, if that's true	often used for informal good-by.	Hona mata. = "Well then."
honma	L-L-H, H-H-H	hontō	true, real	in kanji	Sore honma? = "Is that true?"
ikezu	L-H-L	ijiwaru	spiteful, ill-natured		Ikezu sen toitee na. = "Don't be spiteful to me."
itemau, itekomasu	H-H-H-H, H-H-H-H-H	yattsukeru, yatchimau	to beat, to finish off		Itemau do ware! = "I'll finish you off!" (typical fighting words)
kamahen or kamehen	H-L-L-L	kamawanai	never mind; it's doesn't matter	abbreviation of "kamawahen"	Kamahen, kamahen. = "It doesn't matter: it's OK."
kanawan, kanan	H-H-L-L, H-L-L	iya da, tamaranai	can't stand it; unpleasant; unwelcome		Kō atsui to kanawan na. = "I can't stand this hot weather."
kashiwa	L-H-L	toriniku	chicken (food) Chicken (food) Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...		Kashiwa hito-kire chōdai. = "Give me a cut of chicken."
kattā shatsu, kattā	H-H-H L-L, H-L-L	wai shatsu	dress shirt Dress shirt A shirt, or dress shirt in American English, is a garment with a collar, a full-length opening at the front from the collar to the hem, and sleeves with cuffs. Shirts are predominantly used by men, since women usually wear blouses...	originally a brand of Mizuno Mizuno Corp. is a Japanese sports equipment and sportswear company, founded in Osaka in 1906 by Rihachi Mizuno. Today, Mizuno is a global corporation which makes a wide variety of sports equipment and sportswear, for golf, tennis, baseball, volleyball, football, running, rugby, skiing, cycling, judo, table... , a sportswear company in Osaka. kattā is a pun Pun The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...  of "cutter" and "katta" (won, beat, overcame).
kettai-na	H-L-L-L	kimyō-na, hen-na, okashi-na, fushigi-na	strange		Kettai-na fuku ya na. = "They are strange clothes."
kettakuso warui	H-H-H-H H-L-L	imaimashii, haradatashii	damned, stupid, irritating	kettai + kuso "shit" + warui "bad"
kii warui	H-H H-L-L	kanji ga warui, iyana kanji	be not in a good feeling	kii is a lengthened vowel form of ki .
kosobai or koshobai	H-H-L-L	kusuguttai	ticklish
maido	L-H-L	dōmo	commercial greeting	the original meaning is "Thank you always". in kanji.	Maido, irasshai! = "Hello, may I help you?"
makudo	L-H-L	makku	McDonald's McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...	abbreviation of "Makudonarudo" (Japanese pronunciation of McDonald's)	Makudo iko. = "Let's go to McDonald's."
metcha or messa or mutcha	L-H	totemo, chō	very	mostly used by younger people. also bari (L-H) in Hyogo.	Metcha omoroi mise shitten nen. = "I know a really interesting shop."
nanbo	L-L-H	ikura, ikutsu	how much, no matter how, how old	transformation of nanihodo (何程)	Sore nanbo de kōta n? = "How much did you pay for it?"
nukui	H-L-L	atatakai, attakai	warm
ochokuru	H-H-H-H	karakau, chakasu	make fun of, tease		Ore ochokuru no mo eekagen ni see! = "That's enough to tease me!"
okan, oton	L-H-L, L-H-L	okāsan, otōsan	mother, father	very casual form; some people feel rudeness
ōkini or ōkeni	H-L-H-L or L-L-H-L	arigatō	thanks	abbreviation of "ōki ni arigatō" (thank you very much, ōki ni means "very much"). Of course, arigatō is also used. Sometimes, it is used ironically to mean "No thank you".	Maido ōkini! = "Thanks always!"
shānai	H-H-L-L	shōganai, shikataganai	it can't be helped
shibaku	H-H-H	naguru, tataku	to beat somebody (with hands or rods)		Shibaitaroka! ( < shibaite yarō ka) = "Do you want me to give you a beating?"
shindoi	L-L-H-L	tsukareru, tsurai, kurushii	tired, exhausted	change from shinrō . shindoi has come to be used throughout Japan in recent years.	Aa shindo. = "Ah, I'm tired."
shōmonai	L-L-H-L-L	tsumaranai, omoshirokunai, kudaranai	dull, unimportant, uninteresting	changed from shiyō mo nai (仕様も無い, means "There isn't anything")
taku	H-H	niru	boil, simmer	in standard Japanese, taku is used only for cooking rice	Daikon yō taketa. = "The daikon Daikon Daikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish...  was boiled well."
waya	H-L	mucha-kucha, dainashi, dame	going for nothing, fruitless		Sappari waya ya. = "It's no good at all."
yaru	H-H	yaru, ageru	to give (informal)	used more widely than in standard Japanese towards equals as well as inferiors

Pronouns and honorifics

Standard pronouns are also generally used in Kansai, but there are some local pronoun words. The first pronoun watashi has many variations: watai, wate (both gender), ate (somewhat feminine), and wai (masculine). These are now archaic, but these are still widely used in fictitious creations to represent stereotypical Kansai speakers.

Uchi is also famous for the typical feminine first-person pronoun of Kansai-ben and it is still popular among Kansai girls. An archaic first-person pronoun, ware, is used as a hostile and impolite second-person pronoun in Kansai. Jibun is a Japanese word meaning "oneself," but it has an additional usage in Kansai as a casual second-person pronoun.

In Kansai-ben, the honorific suffix -san is sometimes pronounced -han when -san follows a, e and o; for example, okāsan ("mother") becomes okāhan, and Satō-san ("Mr. Satō") becomes Satō-han. It is also the characteristic of Kansai-ben that honorific suffixes can be used for specific familiar inanimate objects as well, especially in Kyoto. In standard Japanese, the usage is considered childish, but in Kansai-ben, o-imo

Sweet potato

The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...

-san, o-mame

Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....

-san and ame

Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...

-chan are often heard not only in children's speech but also in adults' speech.

Regional differences

Since Kansai-ben is actually a group of related dialects, not all share the same vocabulary, pronunciation, or grammatical features. However, all have the characteristics described in the discussion of general differences above. Each dialect has its own specific features discussed individually here.

Osaka

Osaka-ben is often identified with Kansai-ben by most Japanese, but some of the terms considered to be characteristic of Kansai-ben are actually restricted to Osaka and its environs. Perhaps the most famous is the term mōkarimakka?, roughly translated as "how is business?", and derived from the verb mōkaru (儲かる), "to be profitable, to yield a profit". This is supposedly said as a greeting from one Osakan to another, and the appropriate answer is another Osaka phrase, mā, bochi bochi denna "well, so-so, y'know."

The idea behind mōkarimakka is that Osaka was historically the center of the merchant culture. The phrase developed among shopkeepers and can be used today to greet a business proprietor in a friendly and familiar way but was probably never a universal greeting and certainly is not today. It can however be used in a joking manner with any Osakan and will at least result in a smile and a few laughs, along with the mā, bochi bochi denna response.

The latter phrase is also specific to Osaka, in particular the term bochi bochi (L-L-H-L). This means essentially "so-so": getting better little by little or not getting any worse. Unlike mōkarimakka, bochi bochi is used in many situations to indicate gradual improvement or lack of negative change. For the foreign speaker used to the repetitive question "can you really understand Japanese", responding with bochi bochi is sure to astound and amuse listeners. Also, bochi bochi (H-L-L-L) can be used in place of the standard Japanese soro soro, for instance bochi bochi iko ka "it is about time to be going".

Southern branches of Osaka-ben, such as Senshū

Izumi Province

was a province of Japan. It is also referred to as . It lay in Kinai, and its area today composes the south-western part of Osaka Prefecture . The Ōshōji in Sakai was the border with Settsu Province, until the beginning of the Meiji period, when the boundary was changed to be at the Yamato River...

-ben (泉州弁) and Kawachi

Kawachi Province

was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province...

-ben (河内弁), are famous for their harsh locution, characterized by roll speaking, the question particle ke, and the second person ware. The farther south in Osaka you go, the dirtier the language is considered to be, with the local Senshū-ben of Kishiwada

Kishiwada, Osaka

is a city located in Osaka, Japan. Founded November 1, 1922, the city is well-known for its Danjiri Matsuri.-History:The oldest evidence of life in Kishiwada is the Mayuyama Kofun . The most popular origin story of Kishiwada dates from the 14th century...

 said to represent the peak of harshness. One striking example of Kishiwada dialect is to say tori shibaki iko ke?, which means "let's go eat chicken", but linguistically translates into "let's go fuck some birds up".

Kyoto

Kyōto-ben is characterized by softness and an adherence to politeness and indirectness. The verb inflection -haru is an essential part of casual speech in Kyoto. In other parts of Kansai, -haru has a certain level of politeness above the base (informal) form of the verb, putting it somewhere between the informal and the more polite -masu conjugations. However, in Kyoto, its position is much closer to the informal than it is to the polite mood, perhaps owing to its widespread use. The Osaka phrase Nani shiten nen, equivalent to the standard Nani shiteru no, would in Kyoto be Nani shiteharu no (and sometimes Nani shitaharu no) using the -haru conjugation for an informal question.

Hyogo

The dialects of southern Hyōgo prefecture, such as Kōbe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

-ben (神戸弁) and Banshū

Harima Province

or Banshu was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tamba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji....

-ben (播州弁), have some grammar features of other Western Japanese dialects. One of them is the discrimination of aspect, -yoru in progressive and -toru in perfect. Kobe/Banshu-ben is notable for conjugating -yō and -tō for -yoru and -toru. For example, "the teacher has been coming" become Sensei kitō/kiton de and "the teacher is coming" become sensei kiyō/kiyon de in Kobe/Banshu, but, in Osaka, both examples become sensei kiten/kiton de. Another feature of Kobe/Banshu-ben is the polite copula -te ya, common in Tamba

Tamba Province

was an old province of Japan. The ambit of its borders encompassed both the central part of modern Kyoto Prefecture and the east-central part of Hyōgo Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Tango Province...

, Maizuru

Maizuru, Kyoto

is a city located in Kyōto, Japan, on an inlet of the Sea of Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 89,626 and the density of 264 persons per km². The total area is .The city was founded on May 27, 1943....

 and San'yō dialects.

The difference between Kobe-ben and Banshu-ben is the relation with Osaka-ben. Due to their distance between Osaka, Kobe-ben is more near to Osaka-ben than Banshu-ben. In recent years, Kobe-ben is losing its features in favor of some features from Osaka-ben without -tō. Another difference is that Banshū-ben sometimes sounds violent to other Kansai speakers, as well as Kawachi-ben. Some examples are the emphatic final particle doi and the question particle ke.

Mie

The dialect in Mie Prefecture

Mie Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan which is part of the Kansai regions on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Tsu.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, Mie prefecture was known as Ise Province and Iga Province....

 is made up of Ise

Ise Province

or was a province of Japan including most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces.The ancient provincial capital was at Suzuka...

-ben (伊勢弁), Shima

Shima Province

or was a province of Japan which consisted of a peninsula in the southeastern part of modern Mie Prefecture. Part of the Tōkaidō, Shima bordered Ise Province, and was the smallest of the provinces....

-ben (志摩弁) and Iga

Iga Province

was an old province of Japan in the area that is today western Mie Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Iga bordered on Ise, Ōmi, Yamato, and Yamashiro Provinces.-Geography:...

-ben (伊賀弁). It uses the normal Kansai accent and basic grammar, but some of the vocabulary is affected by the Nagoya dialect. For example, instead of -te haru (respectful suffix), they have the Nagoya-style -te mieru. The similarity to Nagoya-ben becomes more pronounced in the northernmost parts of the prefecture; the dialect of Nagashima

Nagashima, Mie

was a town located in Kuwana District, Mie, Japan.On December 6, 2004 Nagashima, along with the town of Tado, also from Kuwana District, was merged into the expanded city of Kuwana and no longer exists as an independent municipality....

, for instance, could be considered far closer to Nagoya dialect than to Ise-ben.

In and around Ise city

Ise, Mie

, formerly called Ujiyamada , is a city located in eastern Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū, Japan.Ise is home to Ise Grand Shrine, the most sacred Shintō Shrine in Japan, and is thus a very popular destination for tourists. The city has a long-standing nickname—Shinto —that roughly means...

, some variations on typical Kansai vocabulary can be found, mostly used by older residents. For instance, the typical expression ōkini is sometimes pronounced ōkina in Ise. Near the Isuzu River

Isuzu River

The is a river that has both its source and its mouth in the city of Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The river is notable because it flows through Ise Grand Shrine and, due to its strong association with the Shrine, many songs and poems have been written about it throughout history...

 and Naikū shrine, some old men use the first-person pronoun otai.

Wakayama

The dialect in old province Kii Province

Kii Province

, or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. The Kii Peninsula takes its name from this province....

, present-day Wakayama Prefecture

Wakayama Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located on the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Wakayama.- History :Present-day Wakayama is mostly the western part of the province of Kii.- 1953 Wakayama Prefecture flood disaster :...

 and southern parts of Mie Prefecture, is fairly different from common Kansai-ben and comprises many regional variants. It is famous for heavy confusion of z and d, especially on the southern coast. The ichidan verb negative form -hen sometimes changes -yan in Wakayama, Mie and Nara. Yō is often used as sentence final particle. Ra follows the volitional conjugation of verbs as iko ra yō! ("Let's go!"). Wakayama people hardly ever use keigo, which is rather unusual for dialects in Kansai.

Shiga

Shiga Prefecture

Shiga Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan, which forms part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Ōtsu.- History :Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established...

 is the eastern neighbor of Kyoto, so Shiga dialect is similar in many ways to Kyoto-ben. For example, Kyoto dialect's characteristic -haru/yaharu is also commonly used in Shiga, though some Shiga people tend to pronounce -aru/yaaru. One of its features is that the demonstrative pronoun so- often changes to ho-; for example, so ya becomes ho ya and sore (that) becomes hore. In Nagahama

Nagahama, Shiga

is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa. The city center was developed and renamed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi when Hideyoshi moved his center of administration from Odani Castle...

, people often use the friendly-sounding auxiliary verb -ansu/yansu; for example, Hanako-chan ga yūte yansu means "Hanako-chan

Japanese honorifics

The Japanese language has many honorifics, parts of speech which show respect, and their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank.The system of honorifics...

 is saying." In Hikone

Hikone, Shiga

is a city located in Shiga, Japan. The city was incorporated on February 11, 1937.Hikone's most famous historical site is Hikone Castle. Its construction was begun in 1603, by Ii Naokatsu, son of the former lord, Ii Naomasa, but was not completed until 1622...

, the soft emphatic final particle hon can be heard; for example, Kamahen hon and Ee hon.

Nara

The dialect in Nara prefecture

Nara Prefecture

is a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.-History:The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....

 is divided into northern and southern (parts of Yoshino

Yoshino District, Nara

Yoshino is a district located in Nara Prefecture, Japan.As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 59,020 and a density of 26.14 persons per km²...

). The northern dialect has few distinctive from Osaka-ben and Kyoto-ben, but southern dialect is a language island because its geographic isolation with mountains. The southern dialect uses Tokyo type accent, has the discrimination of grammatical aspect, and does not show a tendency to lengthen vowels at the end of monomoraic nouns.

Major works with Kansai-ben

Kansai-ben appears in many Japanese works such as novels, films, manga, and anime. Some musicians incorporate Kansai-ben into their lyrics. Here are some major works with natural Kansai-ben. Since there is no efficient way to portray Kansai-ben in other languages, most English language adaptations of manga and anime use a Southern American accent

Southern American English

Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...

 as a counterpart, though the Southern American accent is often translated to inaccurate Tohoku-ben rather than Kansai-ben in Japan.

Novels and films

• Novelists
  • Sakunosuke Oda
  • Toyoko Yamasaki
    Toyoko Yamasaki
    is a Japanese novelist.A native of Osaka, Yamasaki worked as a journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun from 1945 to 1959 after graduating from Kyoto Women's University in Japanese literature. She wrote her first story Noren in 1957. The following year, she won the Naoki Prize for her second novel Hana...
    
    
  • Seiko Tanabe
  • Teru Miyamoto
    Teru Miyamoto
    is a Japanese author.-Biography:Miyamoto was born in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan and graduated from the faculty of letters at Otemon Gakuin University after which he became a copywriter. In 1970, he began to write his first novel and quit his job...
    
    
  • Hiroyuki Kurokawa
  • Kō Machida
  • Mieko Kawakami
    Mieko Kawakami
    Mieko Kawakami is a Japanese singer and writer from Osaka. She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction for her novel Chichi to Ran . Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer. "Chichi to Ran" is her second novel...
    
    
• Quicksand
  Quicksand (novel)
  is a novel by the Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. It was written in serial format between 1928 and 1930 for the magazine Kaizō. The last of Tanizaki's major novels translated into English, it concerns a four-way bisexual love affair between upper-crust Osakans.-Title:The Japanese title, Manji,...
  
  
• Sasameyuki
  The Makioka Sisters (novel)
  is a Japanese novel written by Tanizaki Jun’ichirō. It has been called, “the greatest cosmopolitan novel since the Meiji Restoration”.The novel follows the lives of the Makiokas, a wealthy Osaka family, from the autumn of 1936 to April, 1941, focusing on the family’s attempts to find a husband for...
  
  
• Meoto zenzai
  Meoto zenzai
  is a 1955 black-and-white Japanese film drama directed by Shirō Toyoda. It is an adaptation of the 1939 novel of the same name by Sakunosuke Oda.- Cast :* Hisaya Morishige* Chikage Awashima* Youko Tsukasa* Chieko Naniwa* Haruo Tanaka* and others...
  
  
• The River Ki
  The River Ki
  is a novel by Japanese writer Sawako Ariyoshi. Published by Chuokoronsha in 1959 it has been translated into English. Set in Wakayama prefecture, the novel's focus is on three generations of women representing modern Japanese history.-Bibliography:-References:...
  
  
• Grave of the Fireflies (novel)
• Pacchigi!
  Pacchigi!
  is a 2005 Japanese film directed by Kazuyuki Izutsu.-Awards:48th Blue Ribbon Awards* Won: Best Film27th Yokohama Film Festival* Won: Best Film* Won: Best Director - Kazuyuki Izutsu...
  
  
• The Mourning Forest
  The Mourning Forest
  The Mourning Forest is an 2007 Japanese film directed by Naomi Kawase. It won the Grand prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a nurse who is grieving for her dead child...
  
  

Manga and anime

• Adolf
  Adolf (manga)
  Adolf, known in Japan as is a manga series made by Dr. Osamu Tezuka.Adolf was published in English by Cadence Books and VIZ Media. The English manga is flipped to read left to right to conform to Western practice....
  
  
• Baito-kun
  Baito-kun
  is a yonkoma manga by Hisaichi Ishii serialized in the Kansai area information magazine beginning in 1972. This was Ishii's debut professional work...
  
  
• Jarinko Chie
• Grave of the Fireflies
  Grave of the Fireflies
  is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work...
  
   (anime)
• Nono-chan
  Nono-chan
  is a yonkoma manga series begun in 1991 by Hisaichi Ishii originally serialized as in the Asahi Shimbun in Japan. When the series first began, it was generally focused on all of the members of the Yamada family. As the series progressed, the daughter became the most popular character among...
  
  , My Neighbors the Yamadas
  My Neighbors the Yamadas
  is an anime film directed by Isao Takahata and released by Studio Ghibli on July 17, 1999. The movie is a family comedy that is presented in a comic strip style which is unusual since all the other Studio Ghibli movies are presented in the traditional anime style of Studio Ghibli...
  
  
• Naniwa Kin'yūdō
  Naniwa Kin'yūdō
  is a Japanese manga series by Yūji Aoki which has been serialized in Weekly Morning since 1990. The series was awarded the 1992 Kodansha Manga Award for general manga and the 1998 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Award for Excellence....
  
  
• Love Com
• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
• Major Kansai-born voice actors noted for roles of Kansai-ben characters
  • Aya Hisakawa
    Aya Hisakawa
    is a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer born in Kaizuka, Osaka. In addition to releasing various solo CDs, she is well known for her anime voice roles, and has also done some work in video games. She is best known for her role of Sailor Mercury of the Sailor Moon fame and also Cerberus from...
    
    
  • Hidenobu Kiuchi
    Hidenobu Kiuchi
    is a Japanese voice actor.-TV Anime:1996*Rurouni Kenshin as Shiro1999*One Piece as Nero2001*Ask Dr. Rin! as Eddy Tsukioka*The Prince of Tennis as Yūshi Oshitari; Kimiyoshi Fukawa 2003...
    
    
  • Kana Ueda
    Kana Ueda
    is a Japanese Seiyū employed by I'm Enterprise. She is best known as the voices of Yumi Fukuzawa in Maria-sama ga Miteru, Rin Tohsaka in Fate/Stay Night and Hayate Yagami in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and Strikers...
    
    
  • Masaya Onosaka
    Masaya Onosaka
    Masaya Onosaka , born October 13, 1964 in Osaka) is a seiyū who works for Aoni Production. In 2010 he won the "Best Personality" Seiyu Award.-TV Anime:*Agent Aika *Angelic Layer '...
    
    
  • Minako Kotobuki
    Minako Kotobuki
    is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. She is best known for her role in K-On!. Her career as a musician began with her performance of the opening and ending themes of the anime series K-On! in April 2009...
    
    
  • Ryo Horikawa
    Ryo Horikawa
    is a Japanese voice actor. He is married to fellow Japanese voice actress Hitomi Oikawa, whose birth name is also . His former stage name is also Ryo Horikawa, which has his given name, Makoto, pronounced as Ryo.-Career:...
    
    
  • Ryoko Shiraishi
    Ryoko Shiraishi
    is a voice actress from Nara, Japan who works for Aoni Production. Due to her low and gentle voice, she is often cast as either the effeminate-and-kind young man or the sexually mature but sweet-and-sensitive supporting lady...
    
    
  • Yuki Matsuoka
    Yuki Matsuoka
    is a voice actress from the Hirano-ku ward of Osaka. She graduated from Otemae Women's University in Nishinomiya. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.- 2001 :*Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi *Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san...
    
    
  • Yūko Miyamura
    Yuko Miyamura
    ' is a Japanese voice actress, actress, J-pop singer and director of audiography. Her married name is ', although she still works under her maiden name. Miyamura was born in Kobe, and graduated from the theater division of the Tōhō Gakuen College of Drama and Music. Her pet name is '...
    
    

Musicians

• Shizuko Kasagi
  Shizuko Kasagi
  was a popular Japanese jazz singer and actress.Before World War II, Shizuko was one of the stars of the Japan Girls Opera Company. During the ongoing Occupation of Japan, she became a mega star singing songs influenced by American jazz and boogie woogie...
  
  
• Takajin
• Masaki Ueda
• Ulfuls
  Ulfuls
  is a Japanese rock band from Osaka. The band name Ulfuls is derived from a misreading of the word "soulful," found on the cover of one of the band members' favorite records...
  
  
• Kumi Koda
  Kumi Koda
  , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer and songwriter from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. Having debuted in 2000 with the single "Take Back", Koda gained fame for her seventh single, "Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba", the songs of which were used as themes for the video game...
  
   - Koi no Tsubomi
  Koi no Tsubomi
  "Koi no Tsubomi" is Kumi Koda's 31st solo under the Rhythm Zone label. It is her first single since the release of "Someday/Boys & Girls" which ended off a 12 week project leading to the release of her second greatest hits compilation, Best: Second Session . "Koi no Tsubomi" was released on CD...
  
  
• Kanjani Eight
  Kanjani Eight
  is a seven-member Japanese boy band from Japan's Kansai region. They are managed by the multimedia talent agency, Johnny & Associates, and signed to Imperial Records. The group was formed in 2002 and made their CD debut in 2004 as "Johnny's modern enka group", though after the year 2006, their...
  
  
• Kana Uemura
  Kana Uemura
  is a Japanese singer-songwriter, who debuted in 2004. She is best known for her song "Toilet no Kamisama", an acoustic ballad about her grandmother, which became a hit in 2010.- Biography :...
  
   - Toilet no Kamisama
  Toilet no Kamisama
  is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Kana Uemura, recounting her thoughts about her late grandmother. It was the leading track from her extended play Watashi no Kakera-tachi, released on March 10, 2010...
  
  
• NMB48
  NMB48
  NMB48 is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group performs at NMB48 Theater on the basement of Yes-Namba Building in Namba, Osaka.-About:...
  
  

See also

• Hokuriku dialect
  Hokuriku dialect
  The is a Japanese dialect group spoken in Hokuriku region, consists of Fukui Prefecture, Ishikawa Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, and Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture...
  
  
• Shikoku dialect
• Mino dialect
  Mino dialect
  The is a Japanese dialect spoken in the southern area, made up of the former area known as Mino Province, of Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is also referred to as the Tōnō dialect by residents of the Tōnō region of the prefecture, which is the eastern part of the former province...
  
  
• Bunraku
  Bunraku
  , also known as Ningyō jōruri , is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684.Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:* Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai—puppeteers* Tayū—the chanters* Shamisen players...
  
   - played in Osaka-ben of Edo period
• Kamigata kabuki
  Kabuki
  is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
  
   - played in Kansai-ben
• Kamigata rakugo
  Rakugo
  is a Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone sits on the stage, called the . Using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story...
  
   - played in Kansai-ben
• ICOCA
  ICOCA
  The card is a rechargeable contactless smart card used on JR West rail network in Japan. The card was launched on November 1, 2003 for usage on the Urban Network, which encompasses the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe...
  
  
• Mizuna
  Mizuna
  Mizuna , also called Xiu Cai, Kyona, Japanese Mustard, Potherb Mustard, Japanese Greens, California Peppergrass, Spider Mustard, etc., is a Japanese name used primarily for cultivated varieties of Brassica rapa nipposinica but also for Brassica juncea var...
  
   - mizuna is originally Kansai word for Kanto word kyōna.

External links

• Kansai Dialect Self-study Site for Japanese Language Learner
• The Kansai and Osaka dialects - nihongoresources.com
• Kansai Ben - TheJapanesePage.com
• Kansai Japanese Guide - Kansai-ben texts and videos made by Ritsumeikan University
  Ritsumeikan University
  Ritsumeikan University has a growing reputation as one of the main private universities of Japan. It is part of a group of prestigious private universities in the Kansai area, called "Kan -Kan -Dou -Ritsu "...
  
   students
• Japanese101: KANSAI-BEN - iPhone
  IPhone
  The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
  
   Application by JapanNewbie.com
• Osaka-ben Study Website, Kyoto-ben Study Website - U-biq
• Osaka Dialect - Osaka Visitor's Guide 日本のふるさとことば集成～近畿～ ("The database of speaking of Japanese dialects, Kinki") - NIJLA
  National Institute for Japanese Language
  The is an independent administrative institution in Japan, established for the purpose of studying, surveying, promoting, and making recommendations for the proper usage of the Japanese language....
  
  
• Kansai-ben songs and videos
  • (not the original PV)